Theodore (brother Of Heraclius)
Theodore (, ; fl. c. 610 – 636) was the brother (or half-brother) of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (), a ''curopalates'' and leading general in Heraclius' Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602–628, wars against the Persians and against the Muslim conquest of Syria, Muslim conquest of the Levant. Life He was the son of the general and exarch of Africa Heraclius the Elder, and is usually regarded as the brother (although John of Nikiu suggests him to be the half-brother) of Heraclius. Soon after Heraclius' overthrow of the emperor Phocas (r. 602–610), Theodore was appointed to the crucial post of ''curopalates'', controlling the palace administration, which at the time was ranked second in importance only to the imperial office itself.Martindale, Jones & Morris (1992), p. 1278 In 612, after the deposition and imprisonment of the ''magister militum per Orientem'' Priscus (magister militum), Priscus, command of his troops was assumed by Theodore and Philippicus (comes excubitorum), ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th centuryAD, it endured until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. The term 'Byzantine Empire' was coined only after its demise; its citizens used the term 'Roman Empire' and called themselves 'Romans'. During the early centuries of the Roman Empire, the western provinces were Latinised, but the eastern parts kept their Hellenistic culture. Constantine I () legalised Christianity and moved the capital to Constantinople. Theodosius I () made Christianity the state religion and Greek gradually replaced Latin for official use. The empire adopted a defensive strategy and, throughout its remaining history, experienced recurring cycles of decline and recovery. It reached its greatest extent un ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anatolia
Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west, the Turkish Straits to the northwest, and the Black Sea to the north. The eastern and southeastern limits have been expanded either to the entirety of Asiatic Turkey or to an imprecise line from the Black Sea to the Gulf of Alexandretta. Topographically, the Sea of Marmara connects the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, and separates Anatolia from Thrace in Southeast Europe. During the Neolithic, Anatolia was an early centre for the development of farming after it originated in the adjacent Fertile Crescent. Beginning around 9,000 years ago, there was a major migration of Anatolian Neolithic Farmers into Neolithic Europe, Europe, with their descendants coming to dominate the continent a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Theodore (nephew Of Heraclius)
Theodore (; ) was a Byzantine nobleman in the early 7th century. He was the son of Theodore, brother of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (). In 635 or 637, some Armenian figures, at the time very influential in Constantinople, felt their interests would be better served under a new emperor. Their candidate to replace Heraclius was Athalarichos. Also involved were the ''curopalates'' Varaztirots, son of Smbat Bagratuni; David Saharuni, Athalarichos' cousin; and Heraclius' nephew, the ''magister'' Theodore. Varaztirots pushed for a bloodless coup, in which the emperor would be forced into exile.Martindale, Jones & Morris (1992), pp. 706, 1282–1285, 1363–1364 The scheme was never executed, as an informer among the conspirators told the imperial court that Athalarichos was planning a coup attempt. Once Heraclius confirmed the story, he ordered the arrest of everyone involved. His advisers recommended the plotters be executed, but Heraclius was quoted by the historian Sebeos a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Heraclonas
Heraclius (; 626 – 642), known by the diminutive Heraclonas or Heracleonas (), and sometimes called Heraclius II, was briefly Byzantine emperor in 641. Heraclonas was the son of Heraclius and his niece Martina. His father had stipulated in his will that both of his sons, Heraclonas and Constantine III, should rule jointly upon his death. Heraclius also specified that his wife, Martina, was to be called "Mother and Empress" insofar as she might have influence at court as well. The emperor Heraclius died in February 641 from edema. When Martina made the late Emperor's will public she faced staunch resistance to her playing any active role in government, but both Heraclonas and Constantine were proclaimed joint-emperors in February 641 without incident. After Constantine died of tuberculosis in May 641, Heraclonas became sole emperor, under the regency of his mother due to his young age. He reigned until October or November 641, when he was overthrown by Valentinus, a general ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Martina (empress)
Martina (; died after 641) was an empress of the Byzantine Empire, the second wife of her uncle the emperor Heraclius, and regent in 641 with her son. She was a daughter of Maria, Heraclius' sister, and a certain Martinus. Maria and Heraclius were children of Heraclius the Elder and his wife Epiphania according to the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor. Empress Eudokia, the first wife of Heraclius, died on 13 August 612. According to the ''Chronographikon syntomon'' of Ecumenical Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople, the cause of death was epilepsy. According to Theophanes, Martina married her maternal uncle not long after, placing the marriage in 613 at the latest. However, Nikephoros places the marriage during the wars with the Eurasian Avars which took place in the 620s. The marriage was considered to fall within the prohibited degree of kinship, according to the rules of Chalcedonian Christianity concerning incest. This particular case of marriage between an uncl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Yarmouk
The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk; ) was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Arab Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River (also called the Hieromyces River), along what are now the borders of Syria–Jordan and Syria-Israel, southeast of the Sea of Galilee. The result of the battle was a decisive Muslim victory that ended Roman rule in Syria after about seven centuries. The Battle of the Yarmuk is regarded as one of the most decisive battles in military history,. and it marked the first great wave of early Muslim conquests after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, heralding the rapid advance of Islam into the then-Christian/Roman Levant. To check the Arab advance and to recover lost territory, Emperor Heraclius had sent a massive expedition to the Levant in May 636. As the Byzantine army approached, the Arabs tactica ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Known colloquially in Syria as () and dubbed, poetically, the "City of Jasmine" ( ), Damascus is a major cultural center of the Levant and the Arab world. Situated in southwestern Syria, Damascus is the center of a large metropolitan area. Nestled among the eastern foothills of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean on a plateau above sea level, Damascus experiences an arid climate because of the rain shadow effect. The Barada, Barada River flows through Damascus. Damascus is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. First settled in the 3rd millennium BC, it was chosen as the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 750. Afte ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Emesa
Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast. Before the Syrian civil war, Homs was a major industrial hub with a population of at least 652,609 people in 2004, it was the third-largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the north and the capital Damascus to the south. Its population reflected Syria's general religious diversity, composed of Sunni and Alawite Muslims, and Christians. There are a number of historic mosques and churches in the city, and it is close to the Krak des Chevaliers castle, a World Heritage Site. Homs did not emerge into the historical record until the 1st century BC in the Seleucid Empire, becoming the capital of a kingdom ruled by the Emesene dynasty who gave the city its name. Originally a center of worsh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Ajnadayn
The Battle of Ajnadayn () was fought in July or August 634 ( Jumada I or II, 13 AH), in a location close to Bayt Jibrin in Palestine; it was the first major pitched battle between the Byzantine (Roman) Empire and the army of the Arab Rashidun Caliphate. The result of the battle was a decisive Muslim victory. The details of this battle are mostly known through Muslim sources, such as the ninth-century historian al-Waqidi. Sources Regarding the primary sources, there is an absence of any of Byzantine provenance; possibly, according to Walter Kaegi, because what Byzantine material exists may conflate the battle with other Byzantine defeats, such as Dathin and Yarmouk. The earliest source appears to be an entry in the Frankish '' Chronicle of Fredegar'', compiled in 658-660, unless this is a possible interpolation. Background According to David Nicolle, the Rashidun army left the capital Medina probably in the autumn of 633, but possibly at the beginning of 634. They first ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of Mu'ta
The Battle of Mu'tah (, or ') took place in September 629 (1 Jumada al-Awwal 8 AH), between the forces of Muhammad and the army of the Byzantine Empire and their Ghassanid vassals. It took place in the village of Mu'tah in Palaestina Salutaris at the east of the Jordan River and modern-day Karak. In Islamic historical sources, the battle is usually described as the Muslims' attempt to take retribution against a Ghassanid chief for taking the life of an emissary. According to Byzantine sources, the Muslims planned to launch their attack on a feast day. The local Byzantine Vicarius learned of their plans and collected the garrisons of the fortresses. Seeing the great number of the enemy forces, the Muslims withdrew to the south where the fighting started at the village of Mu'tah and they were either routed or retired without exacting a penalty on the Ghassanid chief. According to Muslim sources, after three of their leaders were killed, the command was given to Khalid ibn al ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa (; ) was an ancient city ('' polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. He named it after an ancient Macedonian capital. The Greek name (''Édessa'') means "tower in the water". It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene, and continued as capital of the Roman province of Osroene. In Late Antiquity, it became a prominent center of Christian learning and seat of the Catechetical School of Edessa. During the Crusades, it was the capital of the County of Edessa. The city was situated on the banks of the Daysan River (; ; ), a tributary of the Khabur, and was defended by Şanlıurfa Castle, the high central citadel. Ancient Edessa is the predecessor of modern Urfa (; ; ; ), in Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey. Modern names of the city are likely derived from Urhay or Orhay (), the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kavad II
Kavad II () was the Sasanian King of Kings () of Iran briefly in 628. Born Sheroe, he was the son of Khosrow II () and Maria. With help from different factions of the nobility, Sheroe overthrew his father in a coup d'état in 628. At this juncture, the Iranian army had been split into three separate armies, each led by one of the faction leaders. After ascending the throne, he had his father and all his brothers executed. Also, he made peace with the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (), thus concluding the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628. Kavad II soon died of a devastating plague, which became known as the Plague of Sheroe. He was succeeded by his seven-year-old son Ardashir III (). Contemporary sources and modern historiography present a mixed view of Kavad II, with some of the latter criticizing him for his fratricide, considering it to have heavy consequences for the empire. The Austrian historian and numismatist Nikolaus Schindel in contrast suggests that Kavad II's frat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |